Award Winning Pro Bono Program in the Law Library

Last night at the AABA Annual Meeting outgoing President, Hon. Danielle Mosley, mentioned the that the joint AACPLL\AABA “Ask a Lawyer in the Library Program” had received an award. It was nice to have this program recognized before the Anne Arundel County Bar.

On June 12, 2010 I received the PBRC 2010 Maryland Pro Bono Service Herbert S. Garten Special Project Award for the library’s “Ask a Lawyer in the Library” program.

(I have heard that the program was described in the June 2010 MSBA Bar Bulletin. I have not yet read the article as our issue has not yet been received and it is not yet available on the MSBA website.)

The program brings volunteer attorneys into the law library each Wednesday to provide brief, limited legal advice to the public. This program has expanded into public library branches in west and north county. The law library has also coordinated the AABA’s participation in Anne Arundel County’s Homeless Resource Day with an “Ask a Lawyer” service there.

Program participants can speak to an attorney for up to twenty minutes for legal advice and information. There is no time limit at the Homeless Day event. The law library offers back up research and reference service for the volunteer attorneys and the participants.

Since the program’s inception 303 clients have been served by 34 attorneys for a total of 144 hours. For a listing of all of the volunteers and links to program descriptions and pictures, visit the AACPLL wiki Pro Bono Stats page.

The attorneys who volunteer have been more than generous with their time. Those who have made use of the program have been appreciative of the guidance the attorneys have provided.